The present invention relates to improvements in ski racks, and particularly to a ski rack for attachment to the side of a water ski tow boat.
Small boats of 16 feet or less in length are frequently used as tow boats for water skiers. Free space within such boats is limited, yet room must be found for all of the people being carried in the boat, as well as any water skis which are not being used at a particular time. While skis can be kept within the boat, this presents the danger of damage to the skis and injury to the boat's passengers if the skis should move about while the boat is being operated. Therefore, ski racks of various types have been developed for stowage of water skis on boats, where they are available for use and not subject to damage or theft as a result of being left ashore at times when the boat is being operated other than for towing skiers.
Several ski racks have been previously patented, but each of them appears to have significant disadvantages for use with small water ski tow boats. For example, Carney U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,437, and Page U.S. Pat. No. 3,811,143 both disclose ski racks which hold water skis in locations within the hull of a skiing tow boat. Racks in such locations within the boat, however, tend to obscure the operator's view of skiers being towed by the boat, and take up room which is often at a premium within a water ski tow boat.
Shald, U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,806 discloses a ski rack which holds skis on a pair of laterally separated rearwardly extending bars. This arrangement, however, appears to present the likelihood of entanglement of a skiing tow rope on the rack. Additionally, the Shald ski rack includes a fixedly attached brace bar which cannot easily be removed from the boat.
Simmonds U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,836 disclosed a transom-mounted ski rack in which skis and the rack itself would appear to obstruct the boat operator's rearward field of vision.
Gallant U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,112 discloses a ski rack which is adaptable for boats of different sizes, but because of its attachment by the use of suction cups alone, the ski rack of the Gallant patent would not appear to provide a particularly secure stowage for water skis.
What is needed, then, is an easily installed ski rack for water skis which will hold water skis securely in a position outside the hull of a water ski tow boat, without obscuring the operator's view of water skiers being towed. Such a device should be able to be quickly removed from its installed position, and should permit water skis to be easily removed from the rack.